“He supports decriminalizing marijuana and automatically expunging prior criminal records for marijuana possession, so those affected don’t have to figure out how to petition for it or pay for a lawyer.

“Vice President Biden does not believe anyone should be in jail simply for smoking or possessing marijuana.

“He would allow states to continue to make their own choices regarding legalization and would seek to make it easier to conduct research on marijuana’s positive and negative health impacts by rescheduling it as a Schedule 2 drug,”

This is the same position Hillary Clinton took during the 2016 presidential campaign. It’s not an acceptable stance.

By calling for federal decriminalization and states’ rights, Biden is ceding the marijuana issue to his competition.

Where some states have been able to legalize marijuana – 10 so far and nine via ballot initiatives – others are struggling to accomplish that goal. The only solution is to end federal prohibition by removing it from the Controlled Substances Act, not changing its schedule. That would even the playing field.